Author: sac-eats

Last night the doors opened at Sacramento’s newest upscale chain restaurant, McCormick & Schmick’s.  The Mrs. and I attended the gala, calling on her extensive social connections to get an invite and were a bit underwhelmed by the event.  Now, I could spend many words commenting on the somewhat homogeneous crowd of lobbyists, NGO publicity folks, civic minded do-gooders and curious upper-crusters.  I could write epic poems about how the besuited men and bejeweled women never reached into their pockets to tip the bar staffers who were serving them up complimentary beer and wine.  I could discuss at length the old-fashioned decor and gorgeous lighting in the place that was horribly marred by local sports team logos on the chandeliers.  But, I want to focus on three very specific points: music, food (or lack thereof) and boobs.

Continue reading “McCormick & Schmick’s: Party With Your Tie On”

Guy Fieri
from SFGate.com

Yes, that’s right, I know you can’t believe it, but the long awaited, much anticipated, greatly elongated, and mildly frustrated opening of “Tex Wasabi’s” has come. As of Friday, February 9, the doors are open and the chicken sashimi is flying off the shelves. What, you didn’t know it was open yet? Well, you should have been paying more attention rather than sitting there watching American Idol and scratching yourself. Ok, ok, I’ll cut you some slack. They are not “officially” open according to the staff there, but rather “unofficially” open to anyone that walks through the doors. In other words, this is training week, or training month depending on how many kinks they find in the system. The grand opening hasn’t been officially scheduled, and none of their advertising says that they’re open for business. So buyer beware, until the grand opening, don’t come with heightened expectations or lack of patience. Would this stop Sac-Eats from dropping by to have a taste? Hell naw! I’m Sac-Eats bitch! Ain’t nothing gonna break my stride, ain’t nothing gonna hold me down, oh no, I’ve got to keep on eating.

Continue reading “Tex Wasabi’s: Celebrity Chef Babysitter’s Club?”

Last night I spent a very enjoyable evening with the Sacramento Epicureans. For those of you that don’t know, the word “epicurean” comes from the Greek “epi,” meaning “on” or “kind of near but not exactly right next to,” and “curean” which is from the Latin for “place in the river where peasants dump buckets of feces.” So, obviously, “epicurean” has come to mean one who enjoys ingesting fine things, and the Sacramento branch of this particular pursuit is a fine example of the type. Friday night’s epicurean event took place at Gaesorn Thai Cuisine, an established restaurant, now in a new, sophisticated location on 9th street between J & K.

Continue reading “Meeting of the Minds, With Peanut Sauce”

I won’t spend too much time here going over the folksy and divey wonderfulness that is Jamie’s atmosphere.  It was already written about in very lively prose here in the Bee a few weeks ago.  Suffice it to say that if you do go to Jamie’s, leave your chauffeur and Phaeton at home.  You’ll probably want to borrow your brother’s car with the mismatched fenders and the plastic Jesus on the dashboard.  But you come here because you want to know about the food, right?  To that end, a group of us from the Sacramento Food Group went to Jamie’s yesterday to test the grub.  All told there were four of us, Melly, Jenny, Robert and me (For the sake of clarity and in case another person named Robert enters into this piece, I will heretofore refer to my dining companion Robert as “Cobra Commander.”).

Continue reading “Lunch at Jamie’s”

With the weather dipping below the Fahrenheit equivalent of the Maginot line, my cravings for salad and sandwiches and light fare have disappeared faster than a couple of lesbians at dinner when it’s time to split the check.  So, I’ve traveled the greater downtown and adjoining areas to sample the soups of the realm and with a little help from my friends at the Sacramento Food Forum found a few winners amongst the offerings. Continue reading “Soup’s On”

There has been an awful lot of chain-bashing going on lately here on the Rag. Most authors here at Rag HQ support local businesses and encourage others to do the same. Heck, why start the Sac Rag in the first place if you don’t appreciate all things local. If we wanted to enjoy the sameness of corporate chains we’d probably write for facelessamericancityrag.com.

But let’s not shy away from the obvious, chains are not going anywhere in the near future unless there happens to be some type of extra terrestrial invasion that wipes out society as we know it. So, let’s learn to live with the chains, appreciate them for what they offer and use them as we need to, not forgetting our local roots and affinities, but not ignoring a piece of the socio-economic puzzle that, in the end, can compliment, rather than undermine, the local scene. (I heart commas.)

So, I give you the following roadmap to navigating the world of restaurant chains and big box eateries: Continue reading “Chain Reaction”

(NOTE: Before I sat down to write this little blurb, I did a quick peek at what some other folks had to say about Lucca online. To my amazement, my eating experience turned out to be eerily similar to the experience of the News and Review’s Liz Kellar some three years ago.) Having recommended Lucca to my coworkers as a festive and rewarding eatery at which to have our Christmas luncheon, I was sorely embarrassed by the poor accommodations, suspect service and lackluster food. (To be truthful, I wasn’t that embarrassed, at least not nearly as embarrassed as I was when that tape recorder fell out of my jacket at that Doobie Brothers concert exposing me as an illegal bootlegger. Man, was my face red, almost as red as my beret.)
Continue reading “Lucca for Lunch: Food, Folks and Frozen Ass Cheeks”